


a whole new world

by sakuraworth



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Edelbert Week, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:27:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24230545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakuraworth/pseuds/sakuraworth
Summary: reincarnated into a new world, Edelgard decides that Hubert deserves a better life. a life that isn’t devoted solely to her.and yet, he chooses her anyway.-----a series of connected drabbles written for Edelbert week
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43
Collections: Edelbert Week 2020





	1. The Past

“So you saw Hubert on campus.” He sighs, leaning back in her chair, legs dramatically propped up on her study table. “So what?”

She glances at him, and then turns her gaze over to her brunette roommate, who sighs and taps his shoulder. “Ferdie, stop.” Dorothea, or at least the girl who was once Dorothea, chides, and he immediately rights himself. 

“I really don’t see the issue here.” Ferdinand says impatiently. “ _ You _ remember who you were, Edelgard. So do we,” he gestured at both himself and Dorothea, who had now draped her arms over his shoulders. “And all that is in the past. Your actions helped make a better world, where Crests no longer exist. We can just live as normal people now.”

“That’s the whole point.” Edelgard replies stiffly. “ _ Hubert _ can live as a normal person now.”

Ferdinand opens his mouth, but Dorothea sighs, interrupting his rebuttal. “Ferdie, honey. You really don’t get how a girl thinks.” 

“I am perfectly well acquainted with how you ladies think.” He splutters indignantly. “I’ve known both of you since our former lives.”

“And yet,” Dorothea pats his head fondly, “it took you ages to summon the courage to ask me out.”

Ferdinand flinches. “Izzy, please.” Isabella is Dorothea’s name in this life. They mostly referred to each other by their past names in private, though Ferdinand always seemed to like calling her by that nickname.

It was cute, really. Much better when Edelgard had to suffer through watching them deny their feelings for each other all over again.

“This has nothing to do with the current conversation at hand.” Ferdinand clears his throat. “Even if he doesn’t remember, what of it? Linhardt didn’t seem to remember us when Izzy bumped into him,” Though it was Edelgard’s personal theory that he  _ chose _ not to, “You can still get to know one another.”

She winds a strand of hair around her finger. Here, she’s a brunette, and has stayed that way. Only old age will bring white hairs to her head now, and she is thankful of this, but not of the nightmares that still plague her, reminding her of how she had earned that color prematurely before.

“I’m not risking it.” She says firmly. “And you two,” she points at them with a finger, “are not allowed to approach him either.”

Ferdinand makes a disgruntled noise. “I don’t have to listen to you here, you know.”

“ _ Ferdie. _ ” Dorothea chastises him. “She has a reason. Don’t you, El?” She doesn’t remember if Dorothea knows of her past nickname, but Isabella has called her as such when they first met after learning her name here. Elizabeth. 

She takes in a deep breath. “Fine.” He’s just as stubborn as usual, and he’s going to persist unless she gives him a proper explanation. “It’s just… he deserves better, Ferdinand. Please. I don’t  _ want _ him to remember.”

“Hubert’s dedicated his entire life to me back then. I… want him to live this life for himself. Not for me.” As much as she’s appreciated his devotion to her and her cause, that is all in the past. She doesn’t… need him now. Edelgard swallows back a lump in her throat.

Ferdinand stares wordlessly at her. His expression is incomprehensible, and she’s not sure if he’s entirely convinced. 

“Ferdinand,” She starts, but he interrupts her.

“I get it.” He huffs. “I don’t like it, because he deserves to choose.” He gives her a pointed gaze, but she is resolute. “But I get it. I’ll try my best, okay?”

“Besides, Izzy would probably kill me if I said no.” He mumbles, as she rests her chin on his shoulder. 

“Now that wasn't so hard, was it?”

It wasn’t.

Actively avoiding Hubert, or whatever his name was now, would be much harder. 


	2. White Gloves

Their years on campus passed with a blink of an eye and she didn’t know if she should be worried or relieved that she never saw him again.

Perhaps it had been her mind playing tricks on her. Ferdinand certainly thought so, but couldn’t finish his sentence before Dorothea shoved an elbow into his ribs.

Perhaps it was for the best, Edelgard thought wistfully. Perhaps he was born on another continent entirely. Perhaps he was an old man now, or a young child… but she could not bear the thought of him not being born again. 

He deserved that. He deserved another life, one in peaceful times, one without duty or obligation. One of freedom.

It was liberating, this new life. Getting to choose her own path without being bound by war or the weight of the throne on her shoulders. Yet, there was still injustice, inequality, and it was another war to fight, though not quite as bloody as the one she had initiated before.

She was determined to do all she could to make the world a better place, though now she had to climb up the ranks to make any proper change. 

Being promoted to detective was a triumph, and one step of many. She had woken up early for her first day, excited and ready for what was to come.

“Elizabeth Adler, reporting for duty, sir.” She said crisply to the chief. 

He glanced up at her and nodded. It was still strange, she thought, to call the man who she once knew as Jeralt Eisner her boss, but he didn’t seem to remember her, or hold any grudges against her. Not that he would have known that she played a part in his previous demise, but she still felt a small pang of guilt. 

“Just got a body in.” The chief said. “Head over to the morgue, will you?”

It was her first case. Her very first case as a detective, and she was determined to do it right.

“Right,” she said briskly as soon as she walked through the door. “What have you got--”

Her voice trailed off as she noticed the technician bent over the corpse. Dark hair, his long wavy fringe nearly covering his eye, his white gloves stained with blood.... It brought her back.  _ He _ had once kept his gloves clean and spotless, insisting that it wouldn’t do if her right hand man was seen with blood on his hands, literally. And yet, she had always known, the depths of which he had sunk for her, the countless gloves he had stained to keep her vision alive, to pave her path forward.

Her breath hitched in her throat. It was  _ him _ . This was not a dream. 

“Cat got your tongue, detective?” He broke the silence first, raising his head to look at her, a faint smile dancing at the corner of his lips. “Hello, Detective Adler.”

She very nearly breathed out his name.  _ Hubert. _ She thought instead, the name echoing in her head. But that wasn’t his name here, and she wasn’t quite sure if he recognized her. “Hello. I don’t believe we’ve met.”

He stared at her. His green gaze seemed to pierce right through, and a wave of nostalgia crashed over her. The days when he knew everything about her, understood her every desire and carried out her will… Did he truly remember? Was her determination to avoid him so that he could live a normal life all for naught?

“William.” He said, giving her a small bow. “William Amsel.”

She couldn’t help but smile. It was such a normal name for Hubert von Vestra, though he looked so much like she remembered, even down to the dark sunken eyes. “Dr Amsel. Thank you for your hard work.”

“To mete out justice and to aid a fine detective in her first case? Oh, I do it gladly.” 


	3. Cats

He had spent a decade without knowing. To be entirely fair, he was merely a child and perhaps it was a bit much to expect that he would have glimpses of his past life in those early days.

Yet, Hubert found it offensive. He should have known from the very start. Ten years he had lived unawares as William Amsel, not knowing the life he had before him, the life he had devoted entirely to her.

It was by mere chance that he remembered.

That day was a stormy one. Loud rumbling thunder, sharp crackles of lightning, dark skies clouded over as a deluge heavy raindrops poured down. He enjoyed such days, liked seeing the wind bend the trees as it howled like hungry wolves. 

That was, until he heard a small pitiful meow.

He had never been too particularly fond of pets. Especially dogs; they always seemed too annoyingly cheerful and needy. But there was something about this squeaky meow that tugged at his heartstrings, reminding him of something so achingly familiar but he couldn’t quite place.

He scrambled to his feet and threw open the window. There, in their backyard, was a tiny kitten covered in mud and grass, shivering as it took slow, small steps towards the warm light of their house.

He didn’t even stop to think. Images of a little girl, her head bowed as she walked stiffly back into the castle, flashed before him, and he felt as if he was thrust back then, whenever it was, running desperately to return to her side, as he was now, scurrying clumsily through the rain without a umbrella to the small creature.

He could hear the yells of his parents in the distance, but he ignored them. Instead, he fell to his knees and scooped the kitten up into his arms. It seemed too tired to put up any resistance, simply staring up at him with wide violet eyes.

“I’ve got you.” He said softly. 

_ “Lady Edelgard.” The young girl before him looked at him with hollow eyes. “Forgive me. I will never leave your side again.” _

Back then, he was still trying to piece those fragmented memories together, desperate to know who Edelgard was, desperate to know why he felt as though he was lost without her. Suddenly, everything that once perturbed him; schoolwork, grades, his parents’ nagging, felt inconsequential to this girl, one he felt inexplicably tied to.

When they had cleaned the kitten up and his parents had asked him for a name, the first name that came to mind was that name. Edelgard.

His parents had been surprised that he had taken the duties of caring for their new pet very seriously. He fed her regularly, cleared the litter without any complaints, played with her, desperate for more echoes of his past life.

Of course, he hadn’t known that was what it was back then. But as the years passed, and the memories started trickling back. At times he thought it was a curse rather than a blessing; to live a new and peaceful life when she wasn’t there. When she had done so much to shape the world into a better place. 

Besides, could he really know peace if she didn’t exist in this life?

The first time he saw her, his heart had stopped, and the world froze all around him. She had turned around so fast that he almost wondered if he had been dreaming, but he would recognize her anywhere even if he only had a split second. The only difference was that she no longer had the white locks he remembered. While they had looked as pure as freshly fallen snow, she had suffered so much at too young an age (not that being any older would make those horrors and injustice acceptable), and he was relieved. At least she was leading a better life here. 

And she had seen him. It was brief, but he registered immediately the look of shock before she hastily fled out of his sight. 

He would have been hurt if he didn’t understand her so well. 

_ “If you had never met me and entered my service, you might have a more peaceful-” _

“ _ It makes me wonder what kind of life you might have had without me.” _

And as much as he wanted to seek her out, and tell her that it was the same here, that what mattered to him was being by her side, he would respect her wishes. Even though it tore him apart.

So when she walked through the door and they met for the second time in this life, face to face, with nowhere else to go, he could only smile.

He had never believed in such whimsical things as fate. People had the power to change their own destiny, not to rely on such frivolous beliefs that some divine creature was looking out for them.

But in this case, he supposed that he would allow it. 


	4. Letters

He wrote her a letter with each dream he had of their previous life together. They all met the same fate, and went up in flames after he was done, never to see the light of day again, never to be read by another. It was just a way for him to get his thoughts out, have some kind of outlet to all these feelings he kept repressed deep within.

“Lady Edelgard,

If you are reading this letter, that means that I have finally returned to your side. Will this reach you only when I am old and withered? Or will it not reach you at all, and be buried with me in the cold earth?”

He had never finished this one. Too dramatic, he thought with a sneer, but the nightmare of his death in this life, and her only finding his cold gravestone years after his demise, lingered on in his thoughts. He wasn’t one to fear death, but he certainly feared dying before he at least got to have a proper conversation with her.

“Lady Edelgard,

I find myself wondering if I have analysed the situation correctly. Did you recognize me at all? Or was I just a mere face in the crowd, someone you have forgotten? Perhaps it is best, if you lived blissfully unawares of the horrors that plagued you. If that is so, even if you did forget me, it would be worth it. To know that you are safe and happy, and that a peaceful life awaits you.”

The night after he saw her for the first time, he dreamed of the first time they met, back when they were Hubert von Vestra and Edelgard von Hresvelg. When she still had chestnut brown hair, like she did now, when she was still a cheerful young princess. What an innocent time that had been, when she had constantly demanded him to stop being so formal with her (something that he had tried but couldn’t quite do, even when she tried to pull rank on him).

“Lady Edelgard,

If you do indeed, remember me, know that I will respect your wishes. You’ve always wanted a better life for me, always believed that I would lead a happier life without you. That will never be the case. I will always belong by your side. But if you do not wish me to be there with you, I will accept this. It has been a rather… tepid life without you, I must admit. I almost find myself missing those days of war, where I could be of use to you, where I felt most alive while carving out the path to the future you so desired. I will not say I dislike it, for you suffered and sacrificed so much to bring us this peace we now live in. It hasn’t been entirely unpleasant. Experiencing all the development and progress Fodlan has gone through… it’s been satisfying knowing that your bravery started this era. 

Perhaps one day, you will understand. The depth of my feelings for you. Perhaps you feel the same way as I do when we are apart, but I daresay that is just wishful thinking on my part. All I desire is for us to be, at the very least, acquainted once again. To know how you are doing.

So I will wait, until you decide this of your own accord.”

And as this one went up in flames like all the others, though he found himself wishing that if she had to read one of his many letters, it would be this.


	5. The Future

“Of all names,” he said bitterly, “why did you have to suggest  _ that _ one?” 

She laughed, linking her arm with his. “I like that name,” she teased, eyes twinkling mischievously up at him. “Besides, it wasn’t my call. I merely tossed out a suggestion like they asked.”

He sighed. “Yes, but I never thought that they would choose it.” It had never even crossed his mind that it would be a contender. He had certainly assumed that they would just politely take it into consideration out of respect for their mother, but ultimately come up with something better.

“Yet here we are,” she said, smiling fondly through the glass at their first grandson. “Welcoming little Hubert to the world.”

It felt strange, but not in a terrible way. He was still taken aback by the fact that their children thought Hubert not just to be a decent name, but a name worthy of their firstborn. Of course, they were blissfully unaware of the meaning it held, and woefully ignorant of the man that they had just unwittingly named their first son after...

“If I had known...” He groaned.

She gave him a light jab in the ribs. “It’s already on the birth certificate. You can’t change it now.”

“Besides,” his wife added, noticing the conflicted look that still remained on his face. “You should be honored. Look at him!”

He was. A tiny wrinkly baby, not unlike how their children had looked when they were first brought into the world after many hours of anguish they had put their mother through. He still could recall those days, where he never felt like he was quite ready to be a father, but doing his best to ease her through her pregnancy. He had found himself thinking constantly that he would willingly carry their child in her place if he could, as he soothed her through morning sicknesses and massaged her feet as they swelled. 

Despite all the preparations they had made, he had been terrified at the thought of having to hold such a small and fragile thing. Yet, when the nurse first put their child in his arms, he had felt an overwhelming surge of protectiveness and love… something he thought he would never feel for another person besides her. 

And now the years had passed and made them into grandparents. He still couldn’t quite believe it.

“Perhaps there’s still time to convince them.” He said, his eyes still fixated on the tiny dark haired baby, as its face crinkled into a yawn. “He’s too handsome to be a Hubert.”

“Hmm.” She hummed. “And here I thought that the Hubert I knew was one of the most handsome men I’ve ever met.”

“You jest.” He replied, pale cheeks coloring slightly.

“Never.” She laughed, leaning up to peck him on the cheek. “If you aren’t careful, I might leave you for him, you know.” 

“Perhaps I should return the favor and suggest they name their next ‘Edelgard’, if it is a girl.” It was just a mere retort, but he wasn’t exactly opposed to the idea. Their grandchild would certainly be worthy of carrying that name.

“It’d be nice.” She leaned her head on his shoulder, a soft, blissful smile upon her face. “To have Hubert and Edelgard start afresh.”

“But,” she added, “it is such a strong, stubborn name. I much prefer Hubert.”

“And I, Edelgard.” He says quietly, leaving a kiss on top of her now-greying head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of my contribution to Edelbert week 2020! 
> 
> It was fun to connect all the prompts together (albeit somewhat loosely) into my little reincarnation AU! It's been a while since I've properly written any fanfiction, but I had to do it for Edelbert, and especially the Edelbert server (which has always being such a supportive and fun place to hang out in!)
> 
> Reason behind their reincarnated names:  
> Edelgard - Elizabeth Adler: A queenly name, despite her not being a royal anymore. That, and I liked that she could still be called "El" in this world. Adler means eagle, and I liked the connection to the famed Irene Adler, a quick-witted lady who might have had a dark past, but ultimately married for love.  
> Hubert - William Amsel: William means desire to protect, and I found it fitting for a man like Hubert. Amsel means blackbird.


End file.
